On Jan. 9, 2013 at their regularly scheduled meeting, the Tyler City Council heard a presentation about Tyler’s comprehensive plan five-year update. The plan, which was referred to as Tyler 21, has been renamed Tyler 1st.

“With this update, we thought it was a good time to rebrand the plan with a name that better reflects Tyler,” said City Planner Heather Nick. “Tyler is first in so many ways that we felt it was very apropos. Also, the Tyler 1st name demonstrates how committed we all are to our community.”

The comprehensive plan was originally adopted by the City Council on Nov. 14, 2007 after nearly 18 months of community involvement and input. This 20-year plan created a strategic framework for future actions for the City and is a community-based plan. It defines a vision for the future linked to overall goals and policies, and it contains strategies and action items for achieving the goals.

The planning process took more than 18 months to complete, primarily due to the extensive public involvement involved. Resident input was sought throughout the process via a community visioning retreat (300+ attendees), six open houses and a survey of Tylerites. Focus groups, interviews with community leaders, and newsletter and website comments were also important vehicles to gather information about what was important to the residents of Tyler and how they envisioned Tyler growing to meet the needs of generations to come.

The input gathered from the public involvement process was used to establish the vision and principles that became the framework for the nearly 500 page plan. More than 100 citizen volunteers participated on working groups to further define the key issues and strategies to address the long-term future needs of the City.

The Tyler 1st Plan addresses issues such as downtown revitalization, historic preservation, parks and recreation, transportation, and housing and neighborhoods.